Walid Jumblatt on Hezbollah

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt was in Brussels today together with a delegration of Lebanese opposition politicians--Nassib Lahoud, Marwan Hamadi, Nayla Moawad, Ahmed Fatfat, Farid Mekary, Ghattas Khoury, Misbah Ahdab and Mohammed Kabbani --to discuss the Lebanese crisis with the EU's Javier Solana.

Concerning Hezbollah, Jumblatt said the following:

Hezbollah is one of the pillars of Lebanese independence having liberated Lebanon from Israeli occupation. We reject the adventurism embedded in Resolution 1559 which attempts to disarm Hezbollah. This is a purely an internal Lebanese matter to be resolved through dialogue.

We are a democratic country. Hezbollah is an important element within Lebanese society.

We do not intend to be used as a stalking horse for a conflict against Syria. It is counterproductive if US policymakers intend to establish an anti-Syrian front within Lebanon...Lebanon needs good relations with Syria.

The group is travelling to Paris where it will meet with members of the French Assemblée Nationale in a working session led by Hervé de Charette. They will also meet with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier.

Afterwards, Jumblatt will continue to Moscow, where he will meet Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov and his deputy Alexandre Saltanov as well as the chairmen of the International Relations committees of the lower and upper houses of Russian parliament, Mikhaïl Margelov and Konstantin Kosachyov to discuss the situation in Lebanon and in the Middle East. [L'Orient-Le Jour]